Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE government in Rukwa Region has urged the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) to look for reliable markets for cereals, especially maize in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) member countries.
Regional Commissioner (RC) Joachim Wangabo made the call this week when he was inspecting the ongoing construction of silos at Kanondo Village in Sumbawanga Municipal Council.
He said Rukwa was the region in the Southern Highlands Zone that performed better in cereal crops, particularly maize.
He said securing reliable markets in the SADC region would increase farmers’ morale and productivity. The zone comprises Rukwa, Mbeya, Songwe, Njombe, Iringa and Ruvuma regions.
He said although NFRA focused on the preservation of crops in modern storage facilities, 80 per cent of cereals there was a need to increase the amount of crops it purchased from farmers in the Southern Highlands Zone, especially in 2020/21 purchasing season.
“This is the right time for NFRA to increase funds for purchasing maize and look for reliable markets preferably from SADC member countries so that farmers in the country can benefit from them,” explained the RC.
He further said Rukwa farmers had realised bumper harvest of 585,000 tonnes of maize during the 2019/20 season, while actual demand for a population of 1,004,539 was 291,000 tonnes of maize annually.
“Therefore, we have bumper surplus of 294,000 tonnes, but NFRA – Sumbawanga Zone has purchased only 11,000 tonnes.”
“I’m optimistic that after the construction of silos here NFRA Sumbawanga Zone will have the capacity to store 58,500 tonnes of maize,” added the RC.
For his part, Tanzania Building Agency (TBA) Rukwa Regional Resident Engineer Haruna Kalunga said the implementation of the project had so far reached 80 per cent.
Mr Kalunga further said that the Polish main contractor, Unia Araj, had been contracted to implement the project while the sub-contractor was Elerai based in Arusha at $6,019,399.00.
A similar project is implemented in Manyara and Katavi regions.
